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The "polite" thing to do is not get into conservations that involve religion, sex, or politics. Avoid those three topics like the plague and you will rarely offend anyone.
I have never brought up the topic of religion, yet I have been asked many many times by everyone from friends, business associates, casual acquaintances, to total strangers "where do you go to church"
So christians, take it from Glitch, the polite thing to do is to keep your religion Moderator cut: edit , for I care to see or hear none of it.
The world is my church, and everyone is a member of it.
I wonder if people ask other people for self-affirmation. I mean, we are all basically brain-damaged, and one of our basic needs to maintain our sanity and mental health is to feel good about ourselves. Problem is: we don't feel good about ourselves, and we need other people to tell us how good we are.
There will always be the minority who will take this "Go and teach" thing to be talking to them. They haven't been trained, but at the same time they believe they hold the absolute truth. And, with psychology firmly in mind, they march obliviously into the world, armed with the absolute truth, and the "papal" command of bringing the world around to a single idea. By all and any means possible.
I have been asked if I were a Christian. Instead of explaining how much I detest the negativity of the word (The Way is better and original), I'll answer with a succinct "yes." Then I'll be asked if I'm Catholic. I recognize the capital "C" and tell them no, which confuses most of my askers. You see, the Philippines is supposed to be a Roman Catholic country, and even outsiders expect all Filipinos to be Catholic. I can assure you that the other Christian denominations are represented, along with Buddhism and a huge helping of Islam.
I worked twenty years in various congregations around the world. The best congregations were those comprised of multinationals. The worst were tiny, close-knit, backstabbing climbers who lipread "I love you," when in reality they were hoping to "bury you."
The Christ didn't form a church. For the most part, early Christians didn't really form churches either. They formed communities. IN the beginning, they didn't care where the people came from or what their backgrounds were. That came soon after, as the basic nature of human beings finally asserted control. "I have to be better than everyone else; otherwise, I'll be just one of the masses."
When folks come around, thumping on their Bibles, I have to ask them the question: "Which is more important to you? Your God or your Bible?"
Of course, they'll all answer "their God." But they will be quick to point out that they wouldn't know God if it weren't for their Bibles.
Not wanting to labor the point and elaborate on the problems inherent in / with the Bible, I have a second question: "If you didn't have the Bible, would you be able to know about your God?"
They all appear stricken. Almost as if I had spoken blasphemy or something. "Take away the Bible?" they are thinking.
"Let me ask you something: before the Bible was written, didn't anyone know about God? Weren't people able to spread their message about their relationship with God without a Bible?"
This leaves most people kind of tongue-tied. They are not sure what to say. Some will mumble about oral tradition and the like.
But then the kicker: "The Bible seems more important to you than God does. In fact, I would guess that you have faith in a book and not in any God." For most of these people, I have found that to be the case. If there was but one error shown to them occurring in the Bible, then their whole faith in the God thing would be shattered. Like throwing the Baby out with their Bathwater.
"You can't tell me about your God without throwing in a lot of disjointed, disconnected Bible passages? Seems to me that you haven't had much experience with God in your life, huh?"
Geez, that's bizarro. I wouldn't attend that church, either. I'd probably have laughed out loud during the sermon, actually.
We (my daughter and I) almost did, when we looked at each other. She's a HUGE Harry Potter fan. He (the elder who was preaching, as they have no full time minister) said that Satan had cast a spell on the printing presses turning out the Potter books.
My mom asks me if I go to church?
when I tell her "no" she says "do u have any faith?" and I respond "yes, mom. I do"
than she says "what are u? a heathen?"
me: "uhhhhhhhh, no"
Moderator cut: deleted peope that do go to church are really beginning to annoy me. Because they think I should be going to church just like them....and when I don't THEY are the ones that are judgemental and "un-christian" like....
....But then she kept asking me, when it comes down to it, why I didn't believe in the same thing as her. I don't understand why some people don't understand that other people have different beliefs about the world for their own legitimate reasons.
And I don't understand why they want us to justify it to them any more than they should have to justify their beliefs to us. I'm looking for the same answer as the OP if anyone has any suggestions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OptimusPrime69
...people that do go to church are really beginning to annoy me. Because they think I should be going to church just like them....and when I don't THEY are the ones that are judgemental and "un-christian" like....hypocrits!
Well see, Optimus and nimp, in both your stated cases, these folks are truly uncomfortable in their own worlds of spirituality and belief systems. They want and need that Group Hug" mentality, that sense of belonging to the One True & Right Organization, and of all singing together, Koom-Buy-Yah! and so on.
This really actually shows the weakness in their own convictions. If they had true limitless spiritual faith, thy'd really give a flying fruitcake about your beliefs, and they'd let you go your merry way.
but they also have that Christian Directive to go forth and proselytize, in order to maintain an uninterrupted flow of, well you know.... that,. uhhhmmm...
I had a conversation with a friend who attends church on yesterday.
Friend: Do you go to church?
Me: No
Friend: Why?
Me: I want no part of that hypocrisy
Friend: Are you an atheist?
Me: That's my belief, you have yours and I have mine
What is the best way (polite) to handle a conversation like this?
Had this happen to me recently. I said that I want to believe my way and not how any certain religion tells me to believe.
Geez, that's bizarro. I wouldn't attend that church, either. I'd probably have laughed out loud during the sermon, actually.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mrs. Skeffington
We (my daughter and I) almost did, when we looked at each other. She's a HUGE Harry Potter fan. He (the elder who was preaching, as they have no full time minister) said that Satan had cast a spell on the printing presses turning out the Potter books.
OK...take that "probably" out of my sentence above. I WOULD have laughed for sure. Loudly.
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